Tuesday, June 25, 2013

MUSCLE SHOALS

I love documentaries, I especially love music
documentaries, and Muscle Shoals is one of the best examples of both I have
seen.

Muscle Shoals is a small city in Alabama, located
on the Tennessee River. According to native American legend, the river sings
and is mystical and magical.

Music from this area is now called the Muscle
Shoals sound...and here's why:In the late 50s, Rick Hall, a genius engineer
opened his own studio, FAME Studios. His back story up until then was tragic,
but with a songwriting and musical background he had a great ear and put it to
use. He collected a super group of musicians from the area, who eventually
became known as The Swampers, and were the tightest and funkiest
sessions musicians...especially as they were white. An unassuming bunch of
locals that soon became sought after by the biggest of the
biggest. Rick had a great ear for production, he would
make artists do multiple takes until he got the sound he wanted. Almost always
he couldn't actually articulate what he wanted, but said he'd know when he heard
it. That is the sign of a true genius, the artists mostly didn't mind, as they
always got hits out of his techniques.

Their first client was Arthur Alexander, a local
bellhop. I had not heard of Arthur, but when he sung I knew the songs, they were
covered by both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

The next local to drop by and want a recording of
his little song, was none other than Percy Sledge with When a Man Loves a Woman.
There is actual footage of Rick ringing Jerry Wexler of Atlantic records and
playing the cut down the phone to him.

And so on it goes, Wilson Picket, Aretha
Franklin, Etta James, the list is endless.

Aretha was originally signed to Columbia records,
but with no real success, five years had gone by and they dropped her. Atlantic
snapped her up and sent her to Muscle Shoals. She had this song, Never Loved a
Man!! But, no one could make it work, the keyboardist play a few deep, funky
chords that now make the introduction to the song and it was cut within a few
hours, straight to No. 1 and she was a bona fide star! There is footage from
this period...amazing!

Even Sam
Phillips said Fame studios influenced Sun Studios, especially in the way they
used both black and white artists.

Now this was at the time of segregation, so part
of this film shows how music helped to break down barriers, the majority of the
session band and indeed Rick himself were white, but there were some blacks
playing with them. None of them cared, the were all communicating via music not
the colour of their skin...it simply wasn't an issue.

The Swampers, named by Leon Russell, were Barry
Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums),Jimmy Johnson (guitar), David Hood
(bass). After a while, they split from Rick to form their own studio, Muscle
Shoal Sound Studios. Soon The Rolling Stones arrived to cut Brown Sugar and Wild
Horses, amongst other songsm there. Keith and Mick are interviewed for the film
and rave about the place, especially Keith, wishing they had
returned.

Paul Simon contacted them and asked for the black
dudes who played on The Staple Singers, I'll take you there. He was surprised to
learn they were white, but came down and recorded Love me like a rock and
Kodachrome. The list that went through their studios is a who's who of
blues/funk in the 70s. Bob Dylan recorded Slow Train Coming there.

My only criticism of the film is too much Lynyrd
Skynyrd and Allman Brothers for my taste and a bit too much commentary from
Bono. I love Bono, but am still unsure of his connection to the
film!

Muscle Shoals was a complete revelation to me. I
knew all the music, really well in fact. But I had no idea of the story behind
it all and the links between it all, when you listen to them, as you do when
watching the film, you can immediately see the connection to the Muscle Shoals
Sound. It's remarkable.

Muscle Shoals has a great story, not just the
music, but the characters, the history, the racial aspects and the most
stunningly beautiful cinematography I have ever seen.

But it's ultimately about the music, with so much
footage, interviews and the songs themselves, I found myself dancing in my seat
and grinning from ear to ear. I wept tears of joy watching this and simply
enjoyed hearing the stories behind some of the greatest songs of all
time.

About Me

Hello, this blog is a journal or diary of cultural events I have attended. I will also review music, books, film and television amongst anything else of significant interest. I call on one and all to discuss and debate my entries - do you agree, disagree, have another point of view. Join me, I am interested!